Military Stories

[AccountingDrone]

My Grandad had some nice medals, nothing special really just a few marking the fact he had been places.

The fun thing is that most girls learn things from their grandparents but not all learn how to slit a throat properly, how to throw a knife, how to throw a man and how to play cards (poker, 7 card twist)

After 30 years in, he had a lot of medals, none of which were gained for playing nice with the people shooting at him ...

Best advice he ever gave me was 'there is no such thing as fighting dirty, there is fighting to win.' I was taught never to start a fight, but if I was being harassed it was ok to do what I needed to do to end the fight, and that running away as fast as I could was just as valid as punching someone out.

The funniest story he told me was towards the end of the war, as he spoke german he usually went out with a jeep, trailer and a couple of guys to barter for fresh food [eggs, cheese, sausage, fruit and veggies] to give the unit a break from the c rations and the bread truck rations [anything that could be made with bread, powdered milk, powdered eggs - stuff like french toast, creamed chipped beef on toast] He got into more trouble because they would leave in the morning to scrounge food, and be followed back by assorted german soldiers who had surrendered to he and his guys while they were out trading for food ... so his unit had to keep detaching guys to take them back to a staging area and it was a 4 or 5 hour round trip so he was essentially making more work for the unit because they were always short handed ... but they really liked the way he could scavenge the fresh foods! He said they tended to try and surrender to guys who spoke a few words of german because they would get treated better and have less chance of getting shot by an american who didnt speak any german at all.

[Bandit]

The only stories my dad has told me about his time in WWII were from training or on leave.

He was a tail-gunner in a Lancaster bomber - he's told me very little about any times he was in combat except once when he mentioned being attacked by the ME-262.

I really hope I can get him to tell some of his stories and record them for the future. Perhaps somewhere down the line, we'll actually learn from history and not be doomed to repeat it.

I'm not holding my breath though.

B

[Nyoibo]

The fun thing is that most girls learn things from their grandparents but not all learn how to slit a throat properly, how to throw a knife, how to throw a man and how to play cards (poker, 7 card twist)

Don't know why, isn't that what every guy looks for in a woman?

No, just me?

[Geek King]

The fun thing is that most girls learn things from their grandparents but not all learn how to slit a throat properly, how to throw a knife, how to throw a man and how to play cards (poker, 7 card twist)

Heh. A freind of mine has a particularly bright 10-year old daughter. He brought her along to another buddy's house to hang out (she's that cool of a kid, nobody minds her around. Very mature for her age, probably drives teachers nuts), and walked in as buddy was showing off his new toy: A Sig Sauer* something-or-other handgun. The first three things out of her mouth?

"Is it real?" <Her dad and her are airsoft nuts. She has several airsofts of of her own.>

"Is it loaded?"

"Can I hold it?"

Is it any wonder we love the kid?

[AccountingDrone]

Heh. A freind of mine has a particularly bright 10-year old daughter. He brought her along to another buddy's house to hang out (she's that cool of a kid, nobody minds her around. Very mature for her age, probably drives teachers nuts), and walked in as buddy was showing off his new toy: A Sig Sauer* something-or-other handgun. The first three things out of her mouth?

"Is it real?" <Her dad and her are airsoft nuts. She has several airsofts of of her own.>

"Is it loaded?"

"Can I hold it?"

Is it any wonder we love the kid?

you would love a friend of ours ... i wonder if she is single again =)

A buddy of mine [army airborn] hubby Rob, Breice and I were playing who can strip the AK faster in the living room one afternoon. She had never handled a weapon before, and wanted to learn gun safety as she was now starting to see someone who was into hunting and would probably have guns around the house.

We taught her how to shoot, basic gun safety, both handgun and shotgun. We decided to waste some money and bring the AK and M1 out to play, she enjoyed it and to cap off the day we taught her how to clean the various guns we had used [never leave them dirty, good way to damage them. Play, maintain =)]

She found it fascinating, as she loved jigsaw puzzles and Ian mentioned that one of the things you do is learn to strip and rebuild weapons so get used to them, so we started timing it and it ended up in a contest to see who could strip and reassemble the fastest ... after about an hour of practice, Breice managed to win consistantly=)

Rob says that she and I are probably the only women of our generation who wouldnt get M1 thumb .... and she is now an avid hunter and has her own guns ... though she still doesnt like putting worms on hooks ... but she is working on that=)